Evaluation of the insertion efficiencies of tapered silicon nanoneedles and invasiveness of diamond nanoneedles in manipulations of living single cells

We have been developing a low invasive cell manipulation technology based on inserting an ultra-thin needle--"nanoneedle"--into a living cell by using an atomic force microscope (AFM). The nanoneedle, made from a silicon AFM tip by focused-ion-beam etching, has a diameter of several hundred nanometers and a length of about 10 microns. Successful insertion of the nanoneedle into the cell can be confirmed by the appearance of a steep relaxation of repulsive force in the force-distance curve as monitored by the AFM system. This technology, termed "cell surgery", can be applied for the detection of intracellular proteins in a living cell or for highly efficient gene transfer. The present study shows that the durability of a tapered nanoneedle is superior to that of a cylindrical nanoneedle, and that a proper aspect ratio for the tapered nanoneedle must be chosen to maintain sufficient insertion efficiency for a particular target cell: tapered nanoneedles of an aspect ratio over 20 showed high insertion efficiency for various kinds of mammalian cells. We then used diamond for the material of the nanoneedle because its specific properties, such as high stiffness, heat conductivity, and electrical conductivity capacitated by boron doping, were deemed useful for the analysis and manipulation of intracellular phenomena. We compared the capability of the diamond nanoneedle in cell manipulation with that of the silicon nanoneedle. Evaluation of the effect of the former on transcription efficiency and localization analysis of p53 expression revealed the low invasiveness for cell manipulation as was also the case for the silicon nanoneedle. We also succeeded in achieving highly efficient plasmid DNA delivery into a mouse fibroblast C3H10T1/2 using the diamond nanoneedle. The diamond nanoneedle is expected to contribute to the versatility of "cell surgery" technology.